


Whispers in the Wind

by Yrindor



Series: Kohinata's Secret [5]
Category: Prince of Stride: Alternative (Anime)
Genre: Coming Out, Confessions, FTM Kohinata Hozumi, Gen, Hounan and Saisei Training Camp, Mentioned Chiyomatsu Bantarou, Mentioned Hasekura Heath, Minor Hasekura Heath/Kohinata Hozumi, Trans Kohinata Hozumi, Trans Male Character, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 00:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6064285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shizuma pulls Kohinata aside one afternoon at the training camp.  The conversation goes in directions Kohinata didn't expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whispers in the Wind

**Author's Note:**

> Contains spoilers for Shizuma's backstory.

Kohinata was going to lunch with the rest of the team when Shizuma waved him over to the relationer's room. He frowned. His stomach was letting him know rather insistently that it wanted food, but Shizuma seemed rather insistent, and he was technically a guest, so he gave Heath-kun's hand a quick squeeze and went to see what Saisei's relationer could possibly want from him.

As soon as Kohinata walked into the room, Shizuma closed the door behind him and threw the lock. Kohinata was suddenly nervous; he couldn't imagine what Shizuma could possibly have to say that had to take place behind a locked door.

His stomach chose that moment to give a loud growl, and he flushed with embarrassment, but Shizuma just laughed gently. "I apologize for keeping you from your lunch, Kohinata-san. I promise you I won't take too much of your time," he said.

"I don't know how your relationer communicates with the rest of your team, but I hear my teammate's thoughts in their breathing. When you were running against Ban-chan this morning, I could hear your breathing through his earpiece too. I'm not sure how to best describe it other than tight, and almost afraid. Not like you were forgetting to breathe properly in the heat of the moment, but more like you were unable to.

"It was unusual enough that I looked at the rest of your training data from this week," he said, gesturing to the screens on the walls, "and no matter where I looked, it was always the same story; you seemed to be tiring earlier than everyone else and struggling to breathe. Given your training regimen, that shouldn't be the case. At least not without some other underlying issue."

Shizuma looked directly at him, and Kohinata had the uncomfortable feeling that Shizuma could see right through to his innermost secrets and lay them bare if he so desired.

"Forgive me if I overstep, but do you perhaps have mild asthma, Kohinata-san? And if so, would you be interested in speaking with one of our sports medicine specialists while you're here?"

"It's not asthma," Kohinata replied, perhaps a bit too quickly.

"Not asthma?" Shizuma repeated, and Kohinata shook his head.

"My offer still stands, Kohinata-san," Shizumi continued. "You shouldn't be struggling that way while you're running; they might be able to help."

Kohinata shook his head more vigorously. He desperately wished he were anywhere other than in that room right then. As he had feared, Saisei's relationer was too perceptive for comfort, and he really didn't want to have to explain himself further.

"Thank you, Shizuma-senpai, but this isn't something they can fix," Kohinata said, hating how shaky his voice sounded. He stared pointedly at his hands, not wanting to see how Shizuma reacted.

"Oh," Shizuma sighed. "I apologize, I didn't realize it was like that…" he trailed off. The silence stretched out between them, and when Kohinata finally risked a glance up, he found Shizuma staring down at his own hands.

"Shizuma-senpai?" he asked hesitantly when the silence showed no sign of abating.

Shizuma blinked, losing the unfocused look he had had. "I wasn't always a relationer," he said slowly. "Reiji-sama, my brother, and I all used to run together. But then I was in an accident several years ago that left me unable to walk. The physical therapists and everyone else were excellent, but there was a limit to what they could do. I can walk now, but I'll probably never be able to run a Stride course again.

"I didn't mean to bring up such a sensitive issue; I just thought maybe I could help. Please accept my sincere apologies," he finished, bowing deeply, and Kohinata had no idea how to react. He could have left the conversation there, never to be spoken of again, but something about the relationer who wanted to help even though they were on opposing teams caused him to make a split-second decision he hoped he wouldn't come to regret later.

"There's nothing wrong with my body," he began hesitantly. "Well, actually there is, but that's not the issue. Or, it is kind of the issue, but indirectly I guess-" He cut himself off, took a deep breath, and forced himself to get to the point. "I'm a boy who was born with a girl's body, Shizuma-senpai," he said.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. He hadn't even told his own teammates, and here he was telling someone he barely knew and who was a rival no less. He was shaking, but he couldn't seem to stop. He waited for what felt like an eternity with his heart pounding in his ears.

But the ridicule never came. No insults, no hatred, no suggestions that he was disgracing the sport. Instead, Shizuma put a gentle hand on his shoulder and guided him into a chair.

"You bind?" Shizuma asked as if it were a completely natural conversation topic.

Kohinata nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"While you're training too?"

Kohinata shook his head. "Not usually. At least not anymore." Those days had ended when Heath-kun became the team captain, and he didn't miss them in the least.

"But you are now." It wasn't a question. Kohinata nodded. "Because you're training with us, and you were afraid of us finding out?" Kohinata nodded again, feeling ashamed to admit it to Shizuma's face.

But Shizuma didn't seem to resent him for it

"By nature of being idols, and even just by nature of our own backgrounds and circumstances, everyone on the Saisei Stride team knows how important, and how tenuous, privacy can be," he said, "and even if we didn't, closed-mindedness and bigotry have no place in Stride. Master Reiji won't tolerate it, and I won't either. Stride is all about making connections, right? Anyone who would intentionally disrupt that has no place on our team.

"Of course, I know not everyone shares that opinion," he continued, smiling sadly, "but that's where we stand. Which I suppose is my overly long-winded way of saying you don't need to make yourself unnecessarily uncomfortable just because we're here."

"Even my teammates don't know," Kohinata said softly. "Except for Heath-kun." The idea of taking off his binder was tempting; it had long since passed the point of mildly irritating and was rapidly approaching downright painful, but he couldn't quite shake the feeling that going without it would be too risky.

"No one will hear it from me, or from my teammates should any of them happen to notice. I promise," Shizuma said, holding out his pinky finger.

Kohinata smiled as he returned the gesture. It was childish perhaps, but somehow it was exactly what he needed in that moment.

His stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. Shizuma laughed. "Go change if you like, and then come join us for lunch. Clearly you could use it."

Kohinata nodded again. "Thank you, Shizuma-senpai," he said as he left. He hurried back to the room he was sharing with Heath-kun and wriggled his way out of his binder. As usual, he was hit with a sudden wave of dysphoria when he took it off, and that combined with his body protesting the sudden change left him curled up on the floor for a few minutes until the worst of the sick feeling had passed.

By the time he made it down to where the teams were eating, Shizuma was already there and in deep discussion with Reiji and Heath-kun. All three of them looked up when he entered, and Heath-kun immediately rushed over to him looking concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Kohinata said, and was somewhat surprised to find that he meant it.

"You changed," Heath said, and Kohinata knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Shizuma-senpai convinced me," he said, then held up a hand to stop Heath-kun. "I'll explain later, but it felt right to tell him."

"This is what you want?"

"Yes."

Heath-kun squeezed his hand and brought him over to the spot he had saved him at the table.

That afternoon, they held another practice race against each other, and Kohinata felt almost as if he were flying. He laughed as he collapsed to the ground just behind Ban-chan after they finished their stretch of the course. He was completely out of breath, but without any of the scary feeling of being unable to breathe that running with his binder on often left him with.

"Thank you for the race, Ban-chan," he said as he stretched out on his back.

"And to you too. You almost caught me this time, Hozumin," Bantarou replied breathlessly.

"Next time I'll beat you for sure," Kohinata replied happily. Without his binder choking him and dragging him down, and with his worry about other people's reactions kept at bay by Shizuma's promise, he was flying high on the joy he always felt running a course mixed with the heady rush of adrenaline from the race. It was the best he had felt in a long time, quite possibly since his body had started developing curves in the wrong places.

He was still grinning wildly when Heath-kun found him after the race, and he immediately jumped up to hug his boyfriend, his eyes swimming with tears of joy.

**Author's Note:**

> Kohinata deserves something other than angst for once.
> 
> Comments and feedback welcome and appreciated.


End file.
